Good evening Houston! The Mad Houstonian, here.
It has been over a month since my last post.
I have been back to work for a month.
Last week I took a walk along Buffalo Bayou, from Shephard to Sabine, and felt fine doing do.
That day I also passed the 3000 mile mark, of daily walking mileage since I began tracking them on the original Everwalk website in the Spring of 2018.
Last month also saw me share some thoughts, on my Facebook, in response to articles on Streetsblog NYC, and America Walks.
Streetsblog NYC published an Op-ed, on May 21, that tackled the following issue...
"A policy-based, reasonable decision needs to be made with regards to social distancing... for the vision of better bus service and for the ecosystems they serve."
It can be read, here, and the comments are an interesting lot, as well.
My response, at the time, was this...
A lot to think about, for agencies and passengers....this is an interesting read....
As a lifelong transit user, to me, how transit and how passengers, are handling this, doesn't encourage me much, so far.
Houston Metro separates the front few seats from the rest, and encourages back door boarding, and has signs, every other seat, saying "don't sit!" (I often see signs out of place, or missing from the usual spots)...
While masks are encouraged, there is no enforcement (How could they?), and not even all drivers always wear a mask (On the Metro website, and in subscribed e-mails, there are heads-up when a driver gets COVID-19, including what days and routes the driver worked....um, how many people, that might need this info, will this even each?).
I've seen some buses pass stops, and others not, some drivers enforcing limits, others not...I will get right back off if I don't readily see a seat I can use, but have seen passengers who stand when there are no seats...
Just how long will agencies be able to go without charging fares? When I go grocery and pet supply shopping I use a hand cart...getting on the front of the bus is easy, the back... I guess I am about to finally find out.
I DO have a disabled Metro fare card, but will that get me in the front door, instead of the back, with my cart?
(Update 1050am - Metro Customer Service tells me it's up to Driver Discretion if I can get on the front with a full cart.)
We live interesting times.
------------------------------
Indeed we do... I had drivers let me on the front, with the cart, and others pass me by, w/o stopping.
A week ago mask wearing on transit became mandatory, at the same time that wearing one inside a business became mandatory, yet I still see passengers allowed on without, and even the occasional driver not wearing one (One driver told me that since the nearest front seat was more than 6 ft. away from the door...), and few Transit Cops at rail stops, or on the trains.
Meanwhile, the nation appears to have gone to hell.
Radicals from Antifa & Black Lives Matter, among others, took advantage of the atmosphere and peaceful protests in the wake of an Officer/Citizen encounter that turned out bad for the citizen, in MN....
Rioting, looting, attacks on cops, and on media covering the fun & games, the riotous tearing down, or govt. removal, of statues, and not just those related to the Confederacy, or Columbus, but Catholic Priests, US Presidents and Generals, and the writer of the Star Spangled Banner, among others, and many radical calls for change, from defunding police, to the removal of Mount Rushmore....oh, and the sudden OK for athletes to take a knee, and promote their opinions, and causes on the backs of their jerseys.
Thousands of people in the streets, few masks, and little interest in social distancing, with many Democrat politicians, and the news media, excusing and explaining away behaviors they were discouraging as late as early May.
A lot more, of a similar nature, and worse, is going on, but I found reason to respond to a late May editorial by America Walks:
For George Floyd and So Many Others, How Can We Do Better?
I wrote the following on their Facebook, a few days later...
Criminals are walking the streets of our cities, taking advantage in order to loot, and destroy...
Radicals are walking our streets inciting people to behavior far from the intended peaceful protest...
The media is walking the streets, reporting all they see in ways that fit their agenda...
Liberal politicians are walking up to microphones using their platform and Trump Derangement Syndrome as a way to use what is happening to deflect from other things going on in our nation...
Hollyweird celebrities are walking up to microphones to do the same...
What happened to Floyd was wrong, and while a ME report indicates what killed him may not have been the knee to the neck, it was probably a contributing factor, and the cop should be prosecuted if evidence is there that he committed a state, or federal crime...
I write this as I watch what began as a peaceful march thru Houston Downtown, turn into far worse as various groups of people were led off in different directions, afterward, and incited to behavior far from peaceful...
Similar events are happening in other cities, including Atlanta & DC...
This will likely not stop any time soon because too many people are invested in stirring up the pot, especially if it helps come elections in Nov.
------------------------------
I am surprised by 3 things....1 that it was not deleted, 2 that there have been no responses to my thoughts, and 3 that several people were not pleased by what AW wrote and a follow-up comment AW also left, and told them so in no uncertain terms.
AW has a liberal bent that they are letting influence their recent writings in ways that may not help the cause of walking and pedestrianism they care about, over the long haul, if they are no careful.
We live in interesting times.
Congrats on walking 3000 miles!!! That is most impressive.
Posted by: Ellen Pilch | July 01, 2020 at 06:29 PM